2013: Year of Faith yielded much for us to believe in

People we lost

• Deacon Joe Bruick of Texarkana, Jan. 16
• Msgr. John Kordsmeier of Little Rock, Feb. 2
• Bill Conway, community activist, of McGehee, Feb. 14
• Sister Estelle Scully, SP, former Arkansas Catholic employee, of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., March 23
• Sister Georgia Felderhoff, OSB, of Jonesboro, March 29
• Sister Frances Anne Braddock, OSB, of Fort Smith, April 3
• Sister Gabriel Brandt, OSB, of Fort Smith, April 4
• Sister Irma Twenter, OSB, of Fort Smith, April 5
• Brother Matthew O’Meara, OSB, of Subiaco Abbey, June 3
• Bette Kay Cowie of Paris, wife of Deacon Robert Cowie, June 10
• Sister Jovita Stengel, OSB, of Fort Smith, July 4
• Sister Corinne Lange, OSB, of Fort Smith, Aug. 7
• Sister Mary Maurelia Petrus, RSM, of Barling, Sept. 1
• Patricia Ann May of Fayetteville, longtime Arkansas Catholic freelancer, Sept. 2
• Sister Mary Patricia O’Brien, RSM, of Barling, Oct. 12
• Deacon Robert Johnson of Pine Bluff, Oct. 13
• Sister Valeria Moellers, OSB, of Fort Smith, Oct. 17
• Sister Annella Reginelli, OSB, of Fort Smith, Oct. 18
• Jennifer Boccarossa of Little Rock, Mount St. Mary Academy choral director, Nov. 11
• Father David Bellinghausen, OSB, of Altus, Dec. 31

People we met

• Third-grader Jasmine Jackson of St. Boniface School in Fort Smith is math, academic prodigy
• Judy Davidson marks 42 years at St. Theresa School in Little Rock
• DeSalvo family of Center Ridge named state Farm Family of the Year
• Former clerical worker Gayle Priddy named executive director for Helping Hand of Greater Little Rock food pantry
• Subiaco Academy grad Hasten Freeman is college pitching ace
• Joslyn Hebda spends summer interning solo with Caritas in Amman, Jordan
• Burn victim Robert Brooks of Conway thrives on prayer and humor
• Teen Mary Katherine Keller successfully lobbies legislature for learning disability reform
• Little Rock’s Josh Moody, Catholic High senior, launches own software company
• Overcoming health adversity, Megan Chapin wins national award through The First Tee
• Annie McFadden, 2008 Mount St. Mary alumna, returns to alma mater to coach cheerleading team

What we stood for

• Diocesan pro-life legislative priorities passed the general assembly of the Arkansas legislature, including bills that reduced the window for performing abortions. Another diocesan priority, stiffening human trafficking laws in Arkansas, also passed the legislature. Reagan Stanford of Catholic Charities of Arkansas is tagged to co-chair state Attorney General task force on issue.
• Death penalty opponents made the most of a golden opportunity as legal loopholes kept pending executions on hold. Bishop Taylor testified before a state senate committee urging abolition of the death penalty in Arkansas.
• State legislators reject expanding Medicaid, reaching instead a compromise “private option” deal to help bring health insurance within reach to wider segment of working poor.
• Hispanic Catholics from Rogers march, visit elected officials in Washington D.C. in support of immigration reform. Later in the year, rallies in Rogers and Little Rock demand action from state lawmakers.
• A proposed sale of Mercy Hospital Hot Springs to private Capella Healthcare called off, citing lack of diocesan, Vatican and Federal Trade Commission support. Mercy Hot Springs would later enter into talks with St. Vincent Health System for a possible sale, an announcement welcomed by Bishop Taylor.

What we celebrated

• Bishop Anthony B. Taylor marks five years in Arkansas June 5
• Bishop dedicates Hamburg’s new Holy Spirit Church, built with help from sister parishes
• Fort Smith’s Immaculate Conception School awarded national Blue Ribbon status
• St. Mark Church in Monticello burns mortgage note 10 years early ; Sacred Heart Church in Charleston christens prayer garden; Our Lady of the Assumption in Booneville begins work on new church building; two miles apart, parishes in Scranton and Prairie View celebrate 100th birthdays
• St. Joseph High School in Conway wins school’s first baseball state title
• NFL executives Jerry Jones and Denise and John York and anonymous alumnus donate $10 million to Catholic High
• St. Vincent Health System marks 125 years with Mass and dinner. Officials also cut the ribbon on a new all-weather track at Catholic High, which St. Vincent funded

It doesn’t take a Vatican scholar to understand that the fittingly tagged Year of Faith allowed us the privilege of living in times indeed unparalleled in the life of the Church.

For the first time in 600 years, a sitting pope resigned the Chair of St. Peter. Pope Benedict XVI citing advancing age and the resultant effects on his ability to effectively lead, stepped aside Feb. 28. Two weeks later, Pope Francis was tapped the first child of the Americas and member of the Jesuits to lead the Universal Church.

Still reeling, we were privy to another event not seen for six centuries, a sitting pope and a “pope emeritus” talking face to face and kneeling together in prayer. It took something no less monumental than Easter itself to pull us back down to earth

Given the magnitude of what unfolded before our eyes, it is easy to forget that the conclusion of the conclave did not close the year. To the contrary, the lion’s share of what 2013 had to offer was still before us. As those nine months unfolded, events large and small passed through the pages of Arkansas Catholic. Along the way we were alternatingly surprised, saddened, moved, inspired.

This is the story of some of the events, people and places collectively remembered as 2013, the Year of Faith.

Pope Francis shows where to find Christ

“Is that white smoke?” “I think that’s white.” “White smoke!”

So went the patter March 13 among the suddenly rapt staff of Arkansas Catholic. Having taken a colleague out for a birthday lunch at a café near the office, we froze, clutching our phones, eyes riveted to various Pope Watch apps and, like the rest of the planet, held our breath.

And, as the rest of the planet now knows, it was indeed white smoke. Habemus Papam. Chairs skidded along the cafe floor, tabs were hurriedly paid and we beat a hasty retreat to our desks where smartphones gave way to computer monitors to better afford a first view of the 266th holy father.

Knowing what we know now, it is striking how tentative former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio looks in the video of that moment, a moment with which virtually none of us alive today will ever have to wrestle. Whether it was the hour or the weight of what God’s will had just placed on him or both, a forced smile and stiff body language made us wonder who this guy was, not just in name, but in essence.

Was he cut from the same charismatic cloth as Blessed Pope John Paul II, who at his pontifical peak was one of the most influential leaders in the world? Or did he lean to the scholarly, as did his predecessor Pope Benedict, whose reflections and insights into God’s love and a life of faith at once amazed, yet in their depth sometimes distanced? Or would he reflect the traits of some other pontiff he had seen in his lifetime, the reformer John XXIII, the modernizer Paul VI?

Pope Francis, as we would soon learn, was a little of all and largely none of these. As with his chosen name, the pontiff would soon prove to be one of a kind.

Was his first pontifical sentence really, “Brothers and sisters, good evening.”? Did he just crack a joke? Did he, in effect, just ask us for our blessing? What’s going on here?

If Pope Francis could not fully process what was happening, some of the faithful in Arkansas weren’t doing much better. Hispanic Catholics from one end of the state to the other said in the March 23 Arkansas Catholic they were floored by the election of one of their countrymen, scarcely daring to believe what they were hearing.

“I was shocked,” said Father Juan Manjarrez, associate pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Rogers. “My first thought was, ‘Who?’”

“I was confused. I could not hear or understand his name very well,” said Argentina-born Father Ruben Quinteros, vice prefect of Little Rock’s House of Formation. “I think I was the last one to realize, ‘We have a new pope! And he is Argentinean!’”

Once the shock wore off, Hispanics of every nationality rejoiced in typically unbridled fashion. Native Latin and South American Catholics the world over danced in the streets and cheered in churches. Tears flowed freely as it became real. Father Mauricio Carrasco, a native of Mexico, seized the moment at the March 13 evening Mass at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock, opening his homily with a simple, “We have a pope who speaks our language.”

The faithful were immediately smitten by their new shepherd. Wherever he went, crowds of people pressed to catch a glimpse or better still a wave, a smile or even an embrace. The feeling was mutual; Pope Francis rarely missed an opportunity to throw himself into the arms of his adoring flock following Mass and his rides through St. Peter’s Square took on the feel of a rock concert, Sermon on the Mount and Carnaval all rolled into one. As in Argentina, he was drawn to the least among us in the crowd, plucking out children or the physically or mentally challenged for a kiss or a blessing.

Pope Francis released two documents in 2013, “Lumen Fidei” (“The Light of Faith”) in July and “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”) in November. But it was what he said during the year that caught the widest attention. During World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in July, he urged young people to “make a mess,” that “the Church must be taken into the streets.”

In October, he said that even atheists can be touched by grace and stressed dialogue among people on all spiritual paths, saying, “Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good.”

And, in a statement that was both electrifying and largely misunderstood as departing from Church doctrine, he told reporters in July, “A gay person who is seeking God, who is of good will — well, who am I to judge him?

“The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says one must not marginalize these persons, they must be integrated into society. The problem isn’t this (homosexual) orientation — we must be like brothers and sisters.”  

“He’s changed perceptions of the Church from being this out-of-touch institution to one that is humble and merciful,” said Time magazine international editor Bobby Ghosh, on Pope Francis being named the magazine’s Person of the Year to close out the year. “He’s changed the focus of the Church from being focused on doctrine to becoming more about service. And he’s changed the tone in which the Church speaks to one of compassion. It’s all about the poor. This is the Church as it used to be in its, arguably, its best period in the past. And Francis seems to be bringing that back.”

Seminarian ranks keep growing; clergy mark milestones

To quote an old phrase, the three most important things in running a diocese: Vocations, vocations, vocations.

To that end, the Diocese of Little Rock continued to lead much of the nation in its efforts to help young people, particularly men, discern religious life. In the Aug. 31 issue, Arkansas Catholic reported the diocese’s 41 seminarians was its highest number since 1965. The number represented a 27 percent increase over 2012 and a whopping 56 percent increase over the past decade.

“Some people want to say this is just too good to be true. This is just a spike,” said Msgr. Scott Friend, vocations director and a prime architect behind the growth in vocations. “Incredulity is very bad for vocations and for that matter being a Christian.”

Seminarians, for their part, have grown into a visible sign of pride for the faithful of the diocese. Wherever they go in Arkansas, they are welcomed like native sons, even the growing number who come to the diocese from other countries. The current crop includes seminarians and discerners from Colombia, Haiti, Mexico and Nicaragua.

Several seminarians reached important milestones in 2013. Father George Sanders was ordained a transitional deacon March 3 at St. John Church in Hot Springs and to the priesthood Aug. 3 at Christ the King Church in Little Rock. He holds the additional distinction of being one of two married diocesan priests having been previously ordained in the Charismatic Episcopal Church.  

In May, three seminarians were ordained transitional deacons at Masses celebrated in their home parishes. Juan Guido was ordained May 18 at St. Edward Church in Little Rock; Robert Cigainero was ordained at St. Edward Church in Texarkana May 25; and Rick Hobbs was ordained at St. Boniface Church in Fort Smith May 29. The year closed with the ordination of Jack Sidler as a transitional deacon Dec. 14. At 70, Sidler, a widower, is the oldest seminarian in the diocese.

Developing that many seminarians takes work and support from the larger community as well as the seminarians themselves. To return in part some of what they had received, the diocese’s seminarians participate in various parish and diocesan activities. One of these, the Taste of Faith dinner, held Aug. 10, attracted 567 attendees who contributed $220,000 in donations while being entertained by an all-seminarian band.

A new event, Kickin’ It with The Seminarians, was a benefit kickball tournament for high schoolers held at Christ the King School in Little Rock Aug. 17. The event was conceived, organized and run entirely by diocesan seminarians and hosted nearly 100 players on nine teams from parishes across the state. About $1,500 was raised for diocesan youth ministry scholarships.

Other special events this year included Sister Glorea Knaggs, OSB, taking her perpetual vows July 26 in Jonesboro. Brother Matthias Hagge, OSB, professed his final vows at Subiaco Abbey Aug. 30. Both chose their names in tribute to their forebears: Brother Matthias shares the name with his great-grandfather and “Glorea” is a tribute to Knaggs’ grandmothers Gloria and Rhea.
Finally, the diocese witnessed an unusual vocational celebration in September, as two hermits professed their perpetual vows before

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor. David Menkhoff of Little Rock and Judith Weaver of Paris professed their vows at St. John Center in Little Rock in a ceremony that few in the diocese had ever seen before, consecrating a lifestyle that many know little about.

“It is really a mature vocation,” Weaver told Arkansas Catholic in the Sept. 21 issue. “It hasn’t been a straight path for me, but I realized to really live the hermit life I think you need experience of religious life.”